Good running form is essential for a runner to achieve his or her best results as well as minimize the occurrence of injury. A runner's stride is the critical component to good form, and development of a proper stride should be sought by runners of all abilities. One biomechanical stride defect found in many runners is often referred to as “overstriding,” where the runner foot lands in front of the runner body's center of gravity instead of beneath it. In a biomechanically proper stride, the runner's foot should land closer beneath the hips as opposed to far in front of the hips.
Overstriding is undesirable for a variety of reasons. Overstriding produces a braking effect on the runner, slowing the runner down with each step by opposing his or her forward momentum. In addition, landing the foot in front of the body center of gravity is inherently less stable than landing it beneath the body center of gravity, requiring greater foot contact time because the runner must stabilize and balance his or her body. This also slows the runner down and requires the runner to unnecessarily waste energy. Overstriding also prevents the runner from enjoying the benefit of elastic recoil energy provided by muscle prestretch that would otherwise naturally propel the runner forward with more force if the runner were landing his foot beneath his center of gravity. Finally, overstriding increases the occurrence of injury because it places greater impact stress on the runner's legs, which in turn results in greater stress on the knees, hips, and back.
As a result, methods and apparatuses for athletic performance monitoring associated with runner overstriding are needed.